Sept 11 (Askume) – Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill acknowledged on Wednesday that he behaved inappropriately when he was pulled from his car and handcuffed during a traffic stop over the weekend, but said it would help police find a reason to treat him that way.
Sunday’s incident began after an argument over whether Hill’s car window was open, with one officer insisting that it be opened again. Police then forcibly pulled Hill, a five-time All-Pro, from the car, forced him to the ground and handcuffed him.
“I would say I could have done better,” Hill said Monday, speaking to reporters for the first time since body camera footage of the incident was released.
“I could have opened the window,” he said, “but the thing about me is that I don’t want to attract attention, I don’t want to be in front of a camera or on the phone. But in the end, nowadays, I don’t want to follow the rules.”
“Now, does that really give them the right to attack me? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, I hope I can go back and do something different.”
The incident, which occurred just hours before the Dolphins’ NFL season opener when Hill, who is black, was struck by a speeding vehicle near the team’s home court, prompted the Miami-Dade Police Department to launch an internal affairs investigation.
Body camera footage shows an officer looking through an open car window and asking Hill why he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. After a brief conversation, Hill opened the window and the officer knocked on the window and ordered him to get down.
Hill rolled his window down partially and the officer told him to get out of the car. Audio of the conversation shows that the officer became aggressive toward Hill and two other Dolphins players who tried to help him.
Then another officer arrived, opened the car door, grabbed Hill by the back of his head, slammed him to the pavement and put his knee on his back to handcuff him.
The officers picked Hill up, who was still handcuffed, and took him to the sidewalk and told him to sit down. Hill asked them to go slower because “he had just had surgery on his knee,” before an officer grabbed him from behind and forced him to sit down on the sidewalk.
“It’s shocking, man,” Hill said. “It’s weird to know that there are police officers in the world wearing body cameras doing this. It’s sad. It’s really sad.”
“That started another conversation, which got to ‘What would they do if they didn’t have body cameras?’, which was even more awkward.
An officer involved in the traffic stop was placed on administrative duty as a result of the incident, but Hill believes he should be fired.
“Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. He’s got to go, man,” Hill said. “In that moment, not only did he treat me badly, but he was disrespectful to my teammates.
“He said some crazy things to them, but they didn’t do anything. Like, what did they do to you? They just walked down the sidewalk. So, he had to go, man.”
Miami-Dade County Police did not respond to a request for comment on the officer-involved shooting.
Hill played in Sunday’s game and completed an 80-yard touchdown to lead the team to a 20–17 win.
